The much-discussed “Brombeer coalition” in Thuringia, involving the CDU, SPD, and Sahra Wagenknecht’s BSW alliance, is nearly finalized.
According to insiders, the three parties have agreed on a draft coalition agreement, and negotiations are now entering their final stage.
The election in Thuringia, held on September 1, saw the far-right AfD come out on top with a commanding 32.8% of the vote. The CDU, led by Mario Voigt, secured second place, while the BSW, led by Wagenknecht, earned 15.8%. The SPD barely cleared the five percent threshold with 6.1%, but it still holds a place in the ruling coalition.
By Friday, the details of the coalition agreement are set to be publicly released. Negotiators from all three parties have reportedly hammered out a common platform that includes key proposals for education, health, economic, and migration policy. The parties believe they have struck a “forward-looking consensus” that will benefit the people of Thuringia.
Just a few weeks ago, things looked much more uncertain. In late October, SPD leader and Interior Minister Georg Meier expressed doubt that a coalition deal would come together. He noted that Wagenknecht had been actively obstructing discussions, particularly over the preamble. However, it seems those issues have now been resolved. “We managed to get a good start, which will noticeably improve the lives of the Thuringians,” said sources close to the negotiations. Now, all that’s left is securing approval from the individual parties’ governing bodies.
It appears the Brombeer coalition is now on track to become a reality, with the parties focused on the final stages of formalizing their agreement.
A few weeks ago, Sahra Wagenknecht was far from pleased with the direction of the coalition talks, but now, she’s thrilled with the results. According to all reports, the draft coalition agreement between the CDU, SPD, and BSW is “significantly different from the exploratory paper” she had previously seen. “I’m very happy about this,” Wagenknecht stated on the ARD talk show Maischberger. Reflecting on the process, she admitted that reaching this point had required her to make some compromises, acknowledging the hurdles that had arisen during the negotiations.
